What is a trademark? There is a lot of confusion around this question in the sannyas community. This confusion has been created in part by various claims about what a trademark is and what it does. The truth is that very few people, even many attorneys, really understand exactly what a trademark is, how it works, and how someone comes to own the right to use one, so it’s very easy for people to be confused and misled. A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, or image that is used in marketing a product or service. The mark has to identify the product or service as coming from a single source. For example, the word Coke, a Coke symbol, or the image of a Coke bottle/can are all used to market the cola product Coke. When you see any...